Who killed Joel Deering in Coronation Street? All the suspects

Joel was last seen shortly after terrorising Roy Cropper (David Neilson), sitting in his car and sporting a bloodied wound on the side of his face.

He left a suicide note in his car, but was later confirmed to have bought a second vehicle - casting doubt on him having ended his own life.

But when Craig Tinker (Colson Smith) reveals that Joel's body has been found by a riverbank, it looks like DS Lisa Swain (Vicky Myers) was right all along. Joel's reign of terror is well and truly over, just not in the way she thought.

This is murder - but whodunnit?

Join us as we delve into all the potential suspects below.

Who killed Joel Deering in Coronation Street?

Lisa Swain

Despite being a dedicated detective, Lisa got us wondering when she seemed to be nursing an injury to her arm, and looked rather disturbed when discussing Joel's 'suicide'.

Given Joel's manipulative behaviour towards her daughter Betsy (Sydney Martin), could Lisa have got into a physical altercation with him which led to that facial wound, and ultimately his demise?

We could certainly imagine Lisa striking out at Joel after a nasty word or two about Betsy, leaving the scene while he was still alive and kicking and not realising he was fatally injured.

There's already talk of a crowbar being used to attack Joel, before his body somehow ended up in the water, but maybe Lisa happened to have a similar weapon with her during a confrontation? Joel could later have stumbled out for help, only to fall into the river.

It would explain Lisa's struggle to keep her composure, but we have to say, she's surely unlikely to be our killer now there's the promise of romance on the way with Carla Connor (Alison King).

And Lisa did seem shocked by the sight of Joel's text threats on Betsy's life - which, had she known in advance, would have created a much stronger motive at the time of his death.

Kit Green

DC Kit (Jacob Roberts) has already proven that he's loose on morals, and he was rather keen to take over the case on Joel when Lisa was kicked off it due to the connection with Betsy.

Is this because Kit is behind Joel's demise, and he wants to ensure he can cover his own tracks?

We simply don't know Kit well enough to rule him out yet, but what we do know is that he'll go to extremes, such as threatening Craig's job in order to chase Beth Sutherland (Lisa George) out of town.

Kit also seems to have a fixation on bringing down predators, if his planting of DNA in Nathan Curtis's (Chris Harper) van is anything to go by! What if Kit approached Joel and murdered him under cover of darkness, before leaving his corpse in the water?

Dee-Dee Bailey

Dee-Dee was certain that Joel wasn't dead, and adamant that he didn't take his own life. But what if her anguish over her former fiancé's actions caused Dee-Dee to put her own end to Joel's vile machinations?

We've seen Dee-Dee place a tracker on Joel's phone, and while this was used for Lauren's (Cait Fitton) – and her own – protection, could Dee-Dee have used it to locate Joel in time to strike the killer blow? We hope not – purely for her sake!

Unlike Joel, she has a heart of gold and a conscience, so we'd place Dee-Dee on the 'unlikely' list. However, this is Corrie and stranger outcomes have occurred, so as always, anything is possible!

Lauren Bolton

As Joel's victim, Lauren is apparently first to be questioned on her alibi on the night of his disappearance.

Given that we saw Lauren sleeping at the Platt household that evening, she could be in the clear. But do we really have the whole picture?

Joel did some truly disgusting things to Lauren: coercing her into sex, attacking her and leaving her for dead and drugging her to try and abort the baby he fathered.

Little Frankie became gravely ill and Joel's involvement came to light, and he branded Lauren the guilty party, goading her until she hit Joel.

If Joel accosted Lauren once more and abused her over their son's plight, might she have snapped and, in a moment of poetic justice, hit Joel and left him to die alone, happening to be near the water at the time?

Lauren and Max Turner (Paddy Bever) are acting strangely next week, and ITV included a rather odd line in the official spoilers: "Encountering Lauren at the bar, Nick asks how she found sleeping on the sofa at No. 8 the other week."

With Nick Tilsley (Ben Price) currently staying at his family home, did he wake in the night and find Lauren mysteriously absent on said sofa – despite having been seen sleeping there earlier by David Platt (Jack P Shepherd)? And is Max helping to protect Lauren?

Ellie Benton

It took a lot of persuading, but Ellie (Lola Blue) eventually told the police about Joel's abuse of her, after seeing Lauren with unwell Frankie.

But with Joel having skipped his plea hearing and gone missing, might Ellie have taken the power back, thinking Joel was about to escape natural justice?

This outcome would allow Corrie's regular characters to move on with their lives, but that also has the disadvantage of a less impactful plot twist for the conclusion of this storyline.

Actress Blue gave memorable performances as Ellie, but do we really believe that the soap would waste an opportunity to make someone more well-known the killer?

It may not necessarily mark the end of the line for the culprit – several soap favourites have been able to rebuild their lives after committing murder, including Coronation Street's own Gary Windass (Mikey North)!

With that in mind, we're not sure Ellie fits the bill – but let's take nothing for granted yet.

Ed Bailey

Ed is also quizzed by Kit in upcoming scenes, and provides the alibi that he was with Dee-Dee and Michael (Ryan Russell) when Joel went missing.

Protective Ed previously had a fierce altercation with Joel over his treatment of Dee-Dee, giving him a motive.

However, Ed's alibi doesn't appear to be disputed, while brother Ronnie (Vinta Morgan), who was also involved in the aforementioned row, looks set to be challenged on an intriguing lie...

Ronnie Bailey

Dee-Dee is said to update Ronnie with the police's belief that Joel was attacked with a crowbar. Is this telling us something – should we be looking out for a guilty look from Ronnie?

Even more crucially, Ronnie was home alone when Joel went missing, and also explains that his sat nav contains Joel's address because he used it when helping the man move out ages ago.

However, Michael tells Ronnie's partner, Debbie Webster (Sue Devaney), that it was actually his car that he and Ronnie used. So, why did Ronnie drive to Joel's flat on a separate occasion?

There's a lot of opportunity here for Ronnie to be unveiled as the guilty party, but it seems too obvious. Is he a killer, or is Ronnie hiding something else?

Mason Radcliffe

Lisa is shocked when, just after the murder weapon is suggested to be a crowbar, she learns that Mason Radcliffe (Luca Toolan) had a crowbar.

As Betsy warns Mason, he is spotted by Kit as he tries to get rid of the crowbar. Mason had discussed using the weapon for a robbery he was being bullied into committing with his brother, Logan.

So, does Mason simply want to avoid looking guilty in the Joel case, having instead used the crowbar to do the dodgy job, or is he, rather randomly, involved in Joel's death?

The only known link between Mason and Joel is their connection to Betsy, though, so if we had to bet at this point, we'd suggest Mason is an early red herring. Or is he?

Betsy Swain

As mentioned, Betsy endured a death threat from Joel, and she was tormented by her actions after he coerced her into ordering the drugs he used to spike Lauren.

Betsy puts on a front, but underneath she's a vulnerable young woman who was also used by Joel. So, if she did deliver the killer blow to Joel that night, would Betsy have been able to hold her nerve all this time?

Star Martin has been highly praised since her debut, so can we imagine Betsy being unmasked as a murderer when she's fast becoming one of Corrie's best new additions in years? Still, as a character, she's certainly impulsive enough to make such a big mistake.

Fake death

With Joel's father, Gus (Chris Garner), reappearing this week and seen on CCTV with his son, is it possible that the pair have concocted a scheme to fake Joel's death, so he can flee the country and start a new life?

Well, maybe, if it's Gus who ends up identifying the body and therefore confirms Joel's demise. Is there a chance Joel's death is the biggest red herring in this whole saga?

Read more:

• Coronation Street's Lucy Fallon on "incredibly important" stoma storyline for Bethany
• Coronation Street's Alison King on Carla and Swain's charged moment: 'It takes them by surprise'
• Coronation Street reveals first look at John Thomson's return - as he hides secret motive

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